Not my choice
by Lonikje
Summary: Anna is a huge Starkid fan from the beginning, but her boyfriend Thomas doesn't share her enthusiasm. Despite that, they both attend a Starkid convention. During this convention, Thomas gets jealous and acts possessive when Anna gets attention from Joey. Joey wants to make it up to her, but ends up making it worse, despite his good intentions.
1. Chapter 1

"I get it, okay. Will you please shut up about it?" Thomas, my boyfriend, sighs annoyed.

I raise my hands in the air. "Fine, sorry to bother you. I'll leave you to it, then."

And with that I left him in the kitchen and went outside to walk around in our garden. When I got to the cat statue that was halfway covered in flowers, I halted. This was where our cat was buried and when I was in a fight with Thomas, it was my go to place to clear my head.

My name is Anna and I'm a Starkid-fan. You wouldn't guess this since I'm 32 years old. But I'm in love with musicals and it was that love that brought me into the Starkid world. I was hooked from the very first moment. Since I live in Europe, I never had the chance to see them live, but I didn't care. I was the silent type of fan, hoovering in the background, donating money to Kickstarter and watching livestreams in the middle of the night. Thomas didn't mind, he was glad I had something to do but lately he was getting… jealous I think?

A couple of months ago they announced that they would come to Europe to attend a convention. It would be the only one in a couple of years to come, so it was obvious for me that I would buy tickets for myself and Thomas. He even gave me the tickets for my birthday last February, so I figured he was okay with it. But when the weekend of the convention came closer and my excitement was growing with every day, he was getting more and more annoyed.

This day wasn't any different. I stayed awake during the night because they organized another livestream and I wanted to watch it live. Thomas usually didn't care about this, but he didn't like it at all this time. Despite his protest, I still watched it. I wanted to tell him all about it this morning at breakfast, and how I was excited to go to the convention next week and meet all of the Starkids in person. But he wouldn't hear any of it. I suspect he's getting jealous, but he has no reason to feel that way. I'm way too shy to try and talk with them or ask for a photo. If they won't say anything to me, I'm not saying anything back. Too afraid to say something cliché or to make me look like a giggling fangirl. Which, to be honest, isn't far from the truth because deep inside me there is a fangirl hidden. But she's not coming out… ever.

After a while I decided to go back in and forget about the discussion we had. I wouldn't bring them up again in the next week.

The weekend of the convention came and I was excited as can be. On our way to the convention center, I listened to their songs and sang along with them. I looked at Thomas, but he kept staring right in front of him. I shrugged my shoulders, I wasn't going to let his mood ruin my excitement. I was going to meet my idols for crying out loud, and if he couldn't understand that this was something I really was looking forward to, too bad for him. A little voice inside my head argued that if he really loved me, he would be interested in the things I loved or at least be happy that I was happy. But I quickly silenced it. Our relationship wasn't ideal, I knew that, but I still loved him. He was sweet and protective and sure, he could be stubborn and childish, but you know… aren't all men like that?

When we entered the building, I took Thomas's hand and guided him through the crowd. I managed to get us to the right location for the panel that was going to begin any minute. When I looked around I noticed there were a lot of teenage girls there, and me and Thomas kind of stood out. I was not the only one who noticed it.

"Told you Starkid is for kids. Look, you're the only adult here," Thomas said. "You'll see, when they get on stage, they will all scream like their life is depending on it. I'm getting a headache for sure."

He had barely finished his sentence or Team Starkid showed up and waved to the crowd. Needless to say, the crowd went insane. I barely contained my own excitement, and after a quick look at Thomas, I decided to not join in the screams and whistles, but I couldn't hide the huge smile that was plastered on my face.

The Starkids sat down in the chairs on stage and the panel began. I listened to the questions and all of their answers , but after half an hour, Thomas pulled my arm.

"What is it?" I asked him. He looked annoyed… again.

"I want to go, I'm hungry," he whined. He actually whined like a child. I hated it when he did that.

"Then go ahead and get something to eat. I'm listening to this panel, it's almost done." I turned my head and continued watching. Lauren was imitating Jamie's dance during Kick it up a Notch and the whole crowd was laughing. Thomas grabbed my wrist and pulled me along.

I tried to free my arm but he was too strong. The girls around us and their parents started looking at us, so I went with him to avoid any attention.

He stopped at one of the food stalls that were placed there and bought us lunch. I was giving him the cold shoulder, but he apparently didn't care. When we were finished an hour later - because he really wanted dessert too - I looked at the program.

"They'll do a performance in about twenty minutes. I'm going to watch that. You can decide if you'll stay with me until it's over or you'll get yourself a seat somewhere and wait for me. But I don't want you to repeat what you did this morning, okay?" I said to him, while getting up from my seat. I felt like I was lecturing a child, which wasn't that far off.

He didn't get up, but looked at me. After a couple of seconds, he put his hands on the table and shoves his chair out of the way, a little too harsh for my taste.

"Fine, I'll come with you. Just, don't try and embarrass yourself will you?" he mumbled.

"Embarrass myself?" I gasped. "You're the one that's embarrassing me! You know how much I love Starkid and their musicals. You know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, so would you please try and be happy for me? Look, just stay here, really, I don't mind." He looked right into my eyes, it was the coldest look he had ever given me. I swallowed and stepped back.

"I want to ask you something," he said slowly. "Which one is your favorite Starkid?"

That question didn't surprised me. It almost felt like he was interested, but I knew better. The last couple of days I found out that he truly believed I was in love with one of the Starkids. I overheard him talking to one of his friends and he'd said that he was going with me to keep an eye on me. I never thought he would go through with this, but apparently he was. I didn't know yet if I found this 'possessiveness' of him attractive or a deal breaker. So I told him the truth.

"You know that's Joey Richter," I said to him, rolling my eyes. Ever since I saw AVPM, Joey caught my eye and that never changed. I usually go for the underdog, but with him it was different.

"And that is precisely why I'm going with you," he answered.

"Fine," I sighed and went to the auditorium ,with Thomas tagging along.

I managed to squeeze ourselves towards the middle of the first row and was glad to see that there were more 'adults' now. I looked behind me, where Thomas was standing arms crossed. I gave him an encouraging smile, but he didn't return it. I knew we would fight over this when we'd return home the next day, but I wasn't letting that spoil this weekend. I was a very easygoing person, but today I was thinking of myself for a change.

Clark entered the stage and started playing the piano. The introduction of "This is the End" was playing and Lauren came on. I started singing along and pulled out my phone to take pictures. Jaime, Joe Walker, Dylan and Brian Holden soon got on stage too, but when Joey hopped on, everyone went insane. And I joined in their excitement and screamed just as loud. Since I stood in the front row, they got really close and could interact with us. So when Joey stopped to high five the girl next to me and I raised my hand as well, I immediately felt two hands on my hips. My first reaction was to freeze because I wasn't expecting it, but as soon as I heard Thomas' voice I relaxed a bit and I dropped my hand. I didn't want any trouble. If he wanted to be possessive, than I would let him for now. As long as I could watch this show without interruption, I was fine with it. I would deal with all of this afterwards.

Our whole interaction didn't go unnoticed by Joey since he was right in front of us and he gave me a soft smile before continuing with the song. I couldn't help but return the smile. "Don't," Thomas whispered in my ear.

"What?" I asked him.

"Don't encourage him," he said through his teeth.

"Thomas, honestly, you're being ridiculous. We're in the center of the front row, of course he would stop here. I'm not encouraging him! I bet he didn't even notice me. He could've smiled at someone behind us. There are hundreds of people here, come on!" I turned towards the stage again.

The gang was then joined by Meredith and they finished the song.

Joe welcomed everyone and he was greeted with the loudest cheering I'd ever heard. The only sound that came out of Thomas was grunting. He was actually pissing me off now.

After a couple of songs he was getting impatient. The Starkids were singing "Senior Year" while he tried to get my attention. I ignored him and kept singing along, dancing with the other fans. He patted my shoulder, and after I still ignored him, he grabbed me by my right shoulder. He squeezed really hard and I winced.

"When this song is over, we're leaving," he hissed. My eyes went wide, because I never heard him talk to me like that before.

"Thomas, no, please… I really want to stay until the end. You promised," I pleaded. "You're hurting me…" I continued because he still got a hold of my shoulder. When he didn't react, I put my hand over his and squeezed lightly. That seemed to bring him back to his senses, and he dropped his hand.

I moved my shoulder back and forth and crossed my arms.

"It's almost over, okay?" I said without looking at him. He stayed silent.

This was going all wrong. I was glad we were in the front row and there were so many fans around us, because I honestly felt not entirely safe anymore. This wasn't the Thomas I knew and loved.

But all those thoughts were immediately shoved aside when the Starkids left the stage, except for Joey. I knew what was coming. My favorite song by my favorite Starkid: Sidekick.

As soon as Clark played the first notes, everyone else caught on and screamed at the top of their lungs. And so did I. I didn't see that Thomas' entire body tensed, and that his hands were clenched in fists because of my reaction to the song, or the performer.

Joey gave his all, and when he got to the end of the song he went towards my direction, got on one knee and sang the last sentence with his eyes closed: "And I love, I love… I looooooove….", he opened his eyes, looked me in the eyes and pointed at me while singing "Being at your side….".

I smiled at him and applauded. At that moment Thomas lost it. He grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards. I yelped in surprise and managed to free my arm of his grasp. Thomas looked around him, noticed that some people were staring at us, luckily most of the fans were still cheering for Joey. Thomas looked at me, hissed "This isn't over yet," at me and then promptly turned around and left. I felt relieved he was gone but as I looked back to the stage, I was getting scared.

Joey looked at me and while Lauren came on with the others to sing "The Dragon Song", he gave me an apologetic look and mouthed "Sorry". I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head, to notify him that I didn't mind. It's not like it was his fault.

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

They were singing for almost an hour now, so I figured it wouldn't be long until it was over. I checked my phone, but I had no messages or missed phone calls from Thomas.

"Super Friends" was starting and I knew this was the song they usually closed their performances with, so I texted Thomas: "Last song, where are you?".

I hoped he had enough time for himself to cool down. This possessive side of his was new, although when I thought about it, it had been hidden there from the start. He didn't like it when I talked to other guys and he was delighted when I told him that my boss had resigned and I was getting a new boss, a woman this time. All my colleagues were women, so we had an all-female office. And from then on, he stopped going with me on after work drinks. So he has always been a bit jealous I guess. But he was more aggressive this time. He truly scared me a bit.

I had to find him in order to get home. We were in an entirely different part of the country than our hometown so I couldn't call anyone else. We would drive home tonight, but spend the night in a hotel on our way so this trip was in fact a weekend, sort of.

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, but ignored it because they finished the last song. When they descended the stage, I looked at Thomas' message. "Car".

What did that mean? Was he in the parking lot, waiting in the car? Or was he already on his way home? The panic I felt was quickly replaced with anger.

How dare he treat me like this? He knew how much I loved Starkid and if he couldn't handle my enthusiasm, then screw him! He really needed to curb his jealousy because this was getting out of hand. I answered him: "Thank you for abandoning me." If he really was on his way home, he might feel guilty and come back. Or if he was in the parking lot, he'll come back in. I was not planning on telling him where I was, he could come and find me on his own.

But hey, on the bright side; until then I was completely free! No longer a whining, jealous, grumpy guy who was tailing me.

And that was maybe for the best, because I got to the part of this day where I was looking forward to the most: the signing session. I brought my Starkid sweater so they could all sign it and I was hoping to take pictures with them. Since Thomas was no longer with me, I might be able to chat a bit if I could find the courage to do so.

After the show, I went to stand in line to go to the bathroom. I lost a lot of time there and I was worried I would miss the whole session. And I nearly did, because when I got in line they closed it right behind me. The Starkids took their time with each fan but I didn't mind. I could watch them interact, laugh at stories people told them, the occasional photograph they had to pose for, and I truly had a great time. When it was almost my turn, I took my sweater out of my bag and while I grabbed it, my cell phone fell on the floor. As I picked it up I saw I got a new message from Thomas. "Where are you?"

I rolled my eyes, he always had perfect timing. A part of me was glad that he came back for me, but I caught myself wishing he wouldn't find me… yet.

I tried to think of a good answer, but before I could reply, someone tapped my left shoulder to signal it was my turn. I put my phone back in my bag and went to the left side of the table, where Clark was sitting. He signed my sweater, asked me something about the show but I somehow lost my ability to speak and could only produce the biggest smile ever. He laughed at me and said, "It's been a long day for us too."

I went down the table and let every Starkid sign my sweater, they asked me a ton of questions to try and get me to feel comfortable and after a couple of minutes I found myself chatting away with them. When I got to the end of the table, where Joe and Joey were, I saw Clark and the other Starkids get up from their seats and stretch. They must feel really tired and are probably all ready to go to their hotel.

I handed my sweater to Joe and said to him and Joey, "If you could please just sign it then I'll be on my way. My name is Anna. You all had a very long day and I'm the last one so I don't want to take too much of your time…"

Joe took my sweater and signed the left shoulder on the front, while Joey signed the right shoulder. Joe laughed, "Hey, we love doing this Anna. No worries. Did you have fun today?"

I looked at Joey, to see if he recognized me but he was still busy finishing his autograph, which he apparently took his time for. I didn't want him to start asking questions about Thomas. This was something I had to handle myself.

So I answered Joe with the same smile I gave the other Starkids, but if you knew me, you would see that this time it didn't reach my eyes. "I had the best time. Thank you."

Joey finished his autograph and looked up at me. He tilted his head to the side and I saw he recognized me. Shit…

"Hi!" He smiled that adorable crooked grin at me. "You were that girl I sang for during Sidekick, right?" And while he was talking, I saw something shift in his eyes and his features softened. He remembered what had happened because of that. Double shit.

He was polite enough to not say anything about it, but I wanted to leave as fast as I could before he changed his mind. I thanked them for their time, but when I was almost out the door, someone called my name.

I turned and saw Joe waving towards me, telling me to come back. Did Joey told him what happened?

"Anna, come back. We still have some time left, you want to take a picture with us?" He looked at the other Starkids and they all nodded their heads. Jaime agreed, "Yeah, come on up. You should wear your sweater, you'll fit right in with our blue shirts!"

I walked back towards them and pulled on my sweater, ignoring the pain in my right shoulder. When I was in the bathroom, I had a look at it and noticed it was starting to bruise.

I put my bag down in the corner of the room and went to stand with my idols, the people I had admired for so long. They put me in the middle, with the girls on both sides of me and the guys behind us. Joey stood right after me and when Julia, who was so nice to take the picture, told us to laugh, he put his hands on my shoulders and gave a friendly squeeze. I winced and whimpered before I could help it and tried to pull my right shoulder down.

"Everything okay?" Julia asked.

"Yeah, nothing's wrong. Joey just startled me, that's all," I quickly reacted. Everyone looked at him and yelled his name, he raised his hands in surrender and laughed. But I caught the worried look he shot towards me. That's the last thing I wanted, Joey pitying me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," he told the others. When we repositioned to try and take another picture, he put his hands back, but he was much gentler this time around. As if he was afraid that he would break me. We took a couple of photos and after I gave her my e-mail so she could send them to me, Julia said it was time to gather their things in the dressing room and go back to the hotel. I thanked them all for the best day ever and went to grab my own bag. I was stopped by Joey.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, positive. Why wouldn't I be? I got a chance to hang out with you guys!" I said, a little too forced. He didn't buy it.

"Anna, I saw what your friend did to you at our concert this afternoon. It obviously still hurts," he said, while reaching for my shoulder. I stepped back. "See what I mean?" He raised an eyebrow.

"It's just a little sore, that's all. You don't have to feel guilty about it, it was not your fault." I looked behind him and saw the other Starkids leave the room. "You should probably go, I don't want you to be late."

He put his hands in his pockets and sighed. But he didn't leave. It looked like he was debating what to do next. I felt my phone buzzing in my bag… Shit, Thomas!

"I euh… I should go. I have to find my boyfriend before he gets…" I couldn't finish my sentence. What could I say? Worried? That wasn't wat he was lately… Angry, jealous, irritated was more like it.

"That was your boyfriend?" he gasped. "And you're fine with this?" He placed his hands on my arms and bend down a little to get on my level. "Anna, this isn't okay, he should never hurt you, ever!"

At that time, the door to the dressing rooms opened and Lauren's head popped out.

"Hey JoJo! We're waiting for you!" She had a curious look on her face when she saw us, but said nothing.

"You have to go," I said to him. I really wanted to leave because I felt tears stinging in my eyes and the last thing I wanted to do was cry over my boyfriend in front of Joey Richter.

"Okay, but… please, think about what I said."

I nodded and hung my bag over my left shoulder. "Bye, Joey," I said and went towards the exit.

"What?" He asked, spreading his arms. "No hug? I'll be careful with your shoulder this time, I promise."

The dream of many fangirls, and the fangirl in me couldn't resist either.

I went back to him en went into his personal space. The moment his arms went around me, I heard someone yelling…

"What the FUCK do you think you're doing?!"

I froze.

Thomas… Perfect timing as always.


	3. Chapter 3

Joey's POV

As soon as she heard her boyfriend yelling from across the room, she immediately let go of me. I didn't.

I looked towards the stage door where Lauren stood and with a nod of my head I signaled her to leave. It's not because I suddenly had a fit of chivalry and felt the need to defend this girl, that she needed to get involved in this. She hesitated, probably to assess the situation, but did as I asked. That was a first.

"Get your hands OFF of her!" he yelled again, rushing towards us. Good, his anger was pointed at me. Despite that I felt her entire body cringe of what I guessed was fear. So I kept my arms around her for support.

"I will if you will too," I said calmly.

That comment made him only angrier. Anna noticed this and started to push me away. She whispered, "It's fine, really. You don't have to do this." She looked at me and her eyes begged me to let it go.

He was with us in a couple of seconds and shoved me aside with more force than I had expected from such a skinny guy, but I managed to stay upright.

"I said, HANDS OFF!" he glared at me.

"Same goes for you, pal," I said to him. "You know, there are lots of things that I don't agree with and abuse is at the very top of that list."

"Mind your own goddamn business, Starkid loser." He turned towards Anna and grabbed her arm. I saw her wince but she didn't say anything.

"Hey!" I yelled while freeing her arm of his grasp. "You're hurting her."

He turned around and tried to take a swing at me, but Anna stopped him. "Thomas, no. Please. I'll come with you, we'll leave. We'll go home. Please!"

At that moment I heard the stage door open again and Lauren was back, bringing Joe, Dylan and Clark with her. She obviously told them what I got myself into and judging by the look on their faces, they totally agreed with my plan of action and were here to help me.

Thomas looked at them, then at me and finally he looked at Anna, who was silently crying now.

He seemed to realize he was outnumbered.

Giving me the deadliest glare I've ever received in my life, he grabbed Anna's bag and dragged her out of the room. Before they were completely out of my sight, Anna looked back and our eyes locked again. She looked terrified. I wanted to go after them, but Joe stopped me, shaking his head.

"What the hell Joey?" Julia yelled at me when I entered the dressing room.

The others were seated on the benches, awaiting my return. Meredith stood up and hugged me.

"You okay?" she asked. I nodded.

"Seriously, Joey. Why did you do that?" Julia went on. "What if you got hurt? You forgot that we have interviews tomorrow and that we have the start of our tour next week? Did you think of that, huh?"

"It would make a lovely sight though, seeing Joey perform with a black eye," Brolden smirked.

I rolled my eyes at him. But Julia was right, I didn't think of that.

"What was I supposed to do? Just let it happen?"

Julia poked my chest with her finger. "You shouldn't have hugged her in the first place!"

"Oh my god, Julia." I sighed exasperatedly. "You know I'm a hugger. I hug fans all the time! We all do!"

Everyone else agreed with me.

Julia sighed. "Alright, fine. You obviously couldn't know that her boyfriend would be there, I'll give you that."

"Actually…" I began, but quickly shut my mouth when I noticed the fierce look she threw me.

"Wait, you knew?" Lauren asked. Oh God…

"They were at our show this afternoon, front row," I explained. "We made eye contact during the opening song and her boyfriend immediately claimed her attention. After a while I saw him getting irritated and he tried to get her attention. She was enjoying our show and didn't notice, or ignored him. I don't know. But then he grabbed her shoulder, really rough too because I saw her flinch. That's why I chose her during Sidekick." I grabbed my coat and other belongings, because Julia was standing at the back door, looking very eager to leave. We weren't on tour yet but apparently she was already acting as our tour manager. We slowly walked towards her, while I continued.

"I shouldn't have done that, because he completely lost it. Luckily there were lots of fans surrounding them so he left her there. When she came for an autograph, I immediately recognized her. I felt so guilty."

Meredith patted my shoulder. "You don't have to feel guilty, it's that guy's fault. It was really sweet of you to do that." I smiled at her.

"I was so glad that Joe called her back for that picture." Joe's head snapped up when he heard his name.

"Yeah, I thought it was a good idea. She looked very reluctant to leave and we still had some time, so I figured…" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Of course she would be reluctant to leave. Who wouldn't be when you have to go back to such a creep," Lauren added.

We reached the back door and everyone started to put on their coats or jackets, ready to head out.

"Anyways… when I touched her shoulder she screamed in pain – I didn't scare her like she said – so I wanted to make sure she was okay. And you know what happened next…"

Dylan chuckled. "You should've heard Lauren when she came to get us. She was sure you were about to get your ass kicked."

I laughed with them, because it wasn't far from the truth to be honest. He was a lot stronger than I anticipated. But then I thought about something else… I couldn't get the image of her terrified face out of my head.

"What is it, Joey?" Lauren asked.

"I can't shake the feeling that I've only made it worse. She looked so scared."

Lauren hugged me. "As hard as it is, but you've got to let it go. You don't know anything about her so there isn't much you could do I'm afraid."

She was right. I knew that. "Yeah, but still."

"Ready?" Julia asked, and she opened the back door when we all nodded.

When we got in the alley where our bus was waiting for us, we heard some commotion and footsteps. I didn't think much of it, it was rather late so it probably were some drunk college guys who were making too much noise. But then we heard a woman scream.

The guys and I looked at each other and silently agreed to take action. We made sure the girls and our belongings were on the bus, before we went to check what was happening.

The girls protested heavily, suggesting we should call the police instead, but me and Joe were already on our way, with Dylan, Brian and Clark right behind us.


	4. Chapter 4

Anna's POV

Thomas dragged me out of the room still clutching my arm, though I managed to get one last look at Joey.

I was glad that I got to meet him and the other Starkids. My dream came true. Only the circumstances weren't ideal. Why did I think it was a good idea to bring him with me?

Before we turned the corner, I saw Joey step forward, like he was trying to go after us. But Joe grabbed his arm. Maybe for the best, because I wasn't sure that Thomas would leave him alone a second time.

I didn't struggle and let him led me towards the car. But as soon as we were outside and walked out of the street, he pulled me into the alleyway next to the convention center. The sun was already down, the lights on the parking lot shone bright yellow, but there wasn't a street light to be seen in the alley. This made me nervous.

"Thomas?" I asked carefully. He let go of my arm and I crossed my arms, clutching my chest. "Can we go to the car, please?"

He looked at me and the look he gave me made my blood run cold. It was like he became someone else, his lips pursed into a thin line and his jaw was clenched. He breathed heavily. 'My' Thomas was nowhere to be seen.

"I was ridiculous, right? I didn't have to worry, you said," he hissed through his teeth. "But as soon as I leave you alone, you just throw yourself at him."

"Thomas, no! It didn't mean–"

"Shut up!" he shouted. "You promised! You fucking promised!" He ran both of his hands through his hair.

"Thomas, I need you to calm down," I said calmly. I tried to keep a steady voice, but it was hard. It wasn't as convincing as I wanted to be. My eyes shot towards the parking lot, looking for a way out if necessary. He noticed.

"What? Do you want to make a run for it?" He stepped backwards and waved his hand towards the exit of the alleyway. "Go ahead, be my guest. But remember, you've got nowhere else to go…" He grinned, raising my bag in his right hand.

He was right. He had the keys to the car, our house. My wallet and my phone were inside that bag.

"Why are you doing this? You're not like this, I know you!" I tried. He laughed.

"Because I've had enough. That's why. The entire year I had to hear how wonderful Mr. Richter is, how talented he is, how funny, charming, … the list goes on! You stay awake the entire night just to see him on a computer screen. What about me, huh? And today!" Thomas took a step closer, I automatically stepped back. "Today you were all over him! You couldn't keep your eyes off of him, I didn't exist anymore. But no more! No, that's over now. Today was the last day you saw anything Starkid related. Ever! I'll make damn sure that you'll only think of me from now on!"

No more Starkid? Hell no. He didn't have the right to tell me what I can and can't do. I felt a rush of courage go through me. I could handle him. Maybe.

"Thomas, I understand why you are so upset. But honestly, I think you're overreacting. Your jealousy is completely misplaced. Really, he was just being friendly. Come to think of it… this isn't the first time you overreacted when another guy is around me. This isn't healthy. How could we work out when you don't trust me? At all?"

He took another step closer. I tried to step back but hit the wall behind me. Fuck.

"I trust you. It's those other guys I don't trust." He answered.

I snorted. "You showed me today how much you trust me. You hurt me, Thomas. Physically and emotionally." I pulled my sweater down at the neckline so he could see my shoulder. By this time you could see the print of his hand in bruises. "Does this look like you trust me?"

He looked at my shoulder, but there was no emotion on his face. He didn't even care.

"I want my bag," I said while pointing at it. He just stood there, so I stepped forward and tried to take it from him. He quickly raised his arm and held the bag over my head.

"Oh no, you're not. I'll keep this safe for now," he grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers, but it wasn't meant as a comforting, loving gesture. He squeezed my hand real hard, it was getting rather painful. "We are going home. Don't make a scene, alright?"

"No." I answered firmly.

He turned his head and stared at me. "Excuse me?"

I straightened my back and tried to free my hand. "I said no, Thomas. I'm not going home with you. If you're going to be like this, it doesn't feel like home anymore. You can't tell me what to do. You don't own me. Give me my bag so I can call someone to pick me up."

His face went red. I really made him angry now. My eyes shot towards the parking lot again but there was no one there. My mind was racing, trying to find a way to end this peacefully.

He let go of my hand and for a moment I felt relieved. But then he grabbed my wrist and pulled me with him, which made me almost trip over my own feet.

"Thomas, no. Let go!" I yelled, while I was trying desperately to free my arm. He'd grabbed my right arm, so I couldn't struggle since my shoulder still hurt. I could just go with him and call someone when I got home, but I wasn't sure he was going to give me my phone back anytime soon.

"You are with me, and you're going to listen to ME!" he roared. My hand started to tingle, that's how hard he was squeezing my wrist. I tried to remove his hand with my other hand. He didn't bulge. So I scratched his arm.

He immediately turned around and grabbed my other arm as well.

"I wouldn't do that again if I were you," he hissed.

"Then let me go!" I shouted.

"Will you stop screaming?"

"No!" I answered. "Let me GO!" I kicked his shin and surprisingly he let go of my right arm, while he tried to reach for his leg, cursing heavily.

Now I had to act quickly, so I grabbed his other arm – which was still holding on to my left arm – and put my teeth in it, biting as hard as I could. As I expected, he let go, screaming in pain.

I didn't hesitate one moment and started running towards the parking lot, hoping that someone was there or that I could make it into the convention center again if it wasn't closed yet. It was getting really dark now, but I could see enough to find my way around the things in the alley.

But Thomas was fast. Too fast. He was with me in a flash and shoved me aside, straight into one of the dumpsters. With a loud crash I hit my head against the dumpster and my right shoulder took another blow when I slumped against the ground.

Everything was blurry and I felt nauseous. I saw a silhouette coming towards me and I panicked, I tried to crawl away but I was completely disorientated because of the pain in my shoulder and the blow to my head. Thomas grabbed my hair in his fist and pulled me upwards. I screamed in pain.

"You don't deserve me," he whispered into my ear. He then dropped me to the ground.

I heard someone yelling in the distance. Then footsteps, followed by Thomas who ran away. Good. I couldn't see clearly; my vision was still blurred but I could see silhouettes rushing by me, heading in the same direction Thomas went.

They were immediately followed by two other silhouettes that went after them, but stopped as they saw me on the ground. I heard one of them gasping.

"Oh my god… Anna!" The voice seemed strangely familiar. I felt something warm trickle alongside my cheek and I closed my eyes. I was so tired. I wanted to go to sleep.

But the silhouettes didn't leave me alone.

"Anna, can you hear me?" Another voice asked. Just leave me, I thought, I want to sleep. But when someone touched my cheek, I nodded. "I am… tired…" I whispered.

I heard voices in the distance, I slowly opened my eyes and instead of silhouettes I could see beige blobs now.

One of the blobs came really close, and I panicked. I tried to crawl away but my body wasn't listening. When I tried to move again, a pang of pain shot through me and I cried out.

"No, don't move. Just… try to stay still, okay?" The blob hushed. I closed my eyes again.

"We got to call the authorities. She needs to go to a hospital," one of the other blobs said.

No, no hospital. Then they'll want to know what happened, or call the police. I didn't want that, I didn't want to be weak. I wasn't a victim.

I opened my eyes again and to my surprise I could see them almost clearly now. The blurriness was slowly being replaced by a throbbing headache. I groaned.

"Anna, talk to me. Where are you hurting?" The person kneeling beside me asked.

"My head…" I croaked. "Shoulder…"

"I am so sorry, Anna. This is all my fault."

"Joey, Brian already called an ambulance. Clark and Joe are heading back to the bus to tell the girls what happened. I will stay here with you until the ambulance gets here, okay?"

Joey… Brian… Clark… Joe… it somehow sounded familiar but I couldn't put it together. If that headache could please just go away so I could think clearly.

I heard sirens… someone touching my cheek, holding my hand… I'm tired… so tired.

Flashes of blue and red lights came closer, but it was all overshadowed by darkness. Finally I could get some sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Joey's POV

When we turned around the corner we found ourselves in an alleyway that ended in the parking lot of the convention center. It was getting really dark now, but I could still see clearly enough.

Joe held out his arm to stop us. He pointed at two people that were standing halfway the alley, near some dumpsters. They were too far away to see their faces, but I could see it was a man and a woman, clearly in the midst of a fierce argument.

"I think we're good, they're just fighting," Dylan said. We all agreed.

"Yeah, let's get back to the girls," Brian smiled. God, he could be such a sappy guy sometimes, when it came to Meredith. I could only hope I wasn't like that with my girlfriend.

We turned and headed back to the bus, discussing if we should have a little party to celebrate the oncoming start of our new tour. Me and Joe were all for it, every reason is a good reason to party if you ask me. Our friendly banter was interrupted by a crashing sound that came from the alley.

We all looked at each other and ran back towards the alleyway. To my surprise – or then again, I should've known – Joe and Clark were running like mad, speeding up when we heard the woman screaming again. They were around the corner before we got there. When I finally arrived, I heard my friends yelling at the guy to let her go, and saw them chasing him when he dropped her to the ground.

Dylan, Brian and I started running after him as well, so we could be there if Joe and Clark needed help.

When we got to the dumpsters, I saw that the girl was still lying on the ground. I halted immediately to see if she needed any help, so did Dylan, but Brian just kept running.

When I got closer, I recognized her.

"Oh my god… Anna!"

Anna was lying in a heap on the ground, blood slowly dripping from her head on her cheek. I dropped on my knees beside her, but I didn't dare touch her, afraid I would hurt her even more.

I looked behind me towards Dylan, silently asking to help me. I didn't know what to do. This was all my fault; if I didn't sang to her at the concert, if I didn't talked to her after the autograph session, if I didn't hug her, … if I… if I… If I wasn't such an idiot, she would've been okay.

"Anna, can you hear me?" Dylan asked her. She had closed her eyes. Was she unconscious? Besides the wound on her head, which was still bleeding, I couldn't see any other visible injuries. I took a clean handkerchief out of my pocket and started wiping the blood of her face as softly as I could. That seemed to bring her back a bit, because she whispered, "I am… tired."

This is not good. She could have a concussion, and if she had, she needed to stay awake.

At that time, the others came back, arguing amongst each other.

"Where's the guy?" Dylan asked. Brian shrugged his shoulders.

"He was too fast, he drove of before we could catch up on him," Joe grunted. He was obviously not happy that he didn't get to him on time. "How's the girl?"

"I don't know, I'm no doctor," Dylan answered, getting back to his feet.

"I think she might have a concussion or something," I said. "She needs to stay awake, just to be sure." I noticed she opened her eyes again, but they didn't focus. When I got closer to wipe the rest of the blood, she panicked. She tried to move, and cried no doubt from pain. Maybe she fractured something too? Oh god, I really messed it up this time.

"No, don't move. Just… try to stay still, okay?" I looked at the guys for help.

"We got to call the authorities. She needs to go to a hospital," Brian suggested. Of course, yeah, call an ambulance. That was so obvious; I mentally kicked myself for not thinking about it first. When you see a person who is badly injured, the first thing you do is call for an ambulance. Everyone knows that.

And yet when he found himself in that exact situation, he didn't even thought about that.

Anna opened her eyes once again and groaned.

"Anna, talk to me. Where are you hurting?"

"My head… Shoulder…" Her voice cracked, I could barely understand what she said. She must be in a lot of pain, and all because of me.

"I am so sorry, Anna. This is all my fault," I said to her. She didn't react.

"Joey, Brian already called an ambulance. Clark and Joe are heading back to the bus to tell the girls what happened. I will stay here with you until the ambulance gets here, okay?" Dylan patted my shoulder. I nodded in response.

"I just feel so guilty…"

"I know Joey, but you don't need to feel guilty. You didn't do anything wrong, it's her boyfriend that did this to her, not you." Dylan comforted me.

After a while the ambulance arrived, and at the same time I saw Anna's head fall sideways.

"Anna?" I patted her cheek. "Anna, are you still awake?"

Dylan grabbed me by my shoulders, urging me to make room for the paramedics.

"Can one of you tell me what happened?" A police officer came towards us. We explained everything, but we didn't have much to tell since we didn't exactly saw what happened. We gave a description of her boyfriend and what I saw during the concert.

I saw Anna lying on the stretcher when they rolled her in the back of the ambulance.

"Can I… Can I go with her?" I asked one of the paramedics. Dylan looked at me, silently questioning what I was doing.

"Are you family, sir?" he asked me. I shook my head. "Boyfriend?"

"Oh, no… I uhm… I'm just a friend." I rubbed my neck. I wasn't even that, but I didn't want to explain everything.

"I'm sorry sir, but only family can ride along with the ambulance. We're going to St. Mary's hospital if you want to visit her." He closed the ambulance doors and with the wailing of the siren the ambulance took off.

"Come on, man. We're going back to the bus. They're probably wondering what's keeping us," Dylan pulled my arm.

We walked back towards the bus, and before I even got on it I was being engulfed in hugs from all the girls.

"Are you okay?" Jaime asked.

"This is NOT your fault, you hear me?" Lauren assured me. She knew me too well.

"Joey, girls, sit down. We're leaving. We had to be at the hotel like one hour ago." Julia interrupted. She took the seat next to me.

"You're good?" she asked. I nodded.

"Yeah… just a little shocked that this all happened because of a stupid hug. I know I shouldn't feel guilty but I can't help it that I still do…" I put my head in my hands and tried to calm myself.

"She's in good hands now, you know that. You and the guys were there when she needed help. That's what matters," Julia tried to comfort me. She was right. I wouldn't dare think of what could have happened if we didn't agree to check on the noises.

When we arrived at the hotel, Julia spoke once more.

"Now, all of you up to your rooms. It's the middle of the night and we have the interview in the morning. I want you all downstairs in the lobby dressed and fed at 9 am. No exceptions," she looked at me.

"I'll be there," I murmured.

When I went up the stairs, sauntering after everyone else, Lauren stayed behind to catch up with me.

"If you want to go visit her tomorrow, I'll come with you," she suggested. "We're free in the afternoon; our flight doesn't leave 'till 10 pm."

As tempting as that sounded, if only to make sure she was going to be alright, I couldn't.

"I can't, Lo. I don't even know her last name. They will never let me in. What can I say? Hi, I'm the guy that caused all this to happen to her?" I snapped.

"That's not true and you know it. Fine, then don't. Whatever you want," she said, clearly irritated. "Good night, Joey."

"Lo, I'm sorry," I shouted after her, but she closed her door to her room she shared with Jaime without another word.

Great, now I have to make it up to Lauren as well.

When I entered my room I saw Joe already in his bed, snoring loudly. Yup, this was going to be long night…


	6. Chapter 6

Anna's POV

I woke up with the worst possible headache. Really, I had my fair share of hangovers during my student years, but this was nothing like it.

The room was dark; the curtains were closed even though it was 9:30 am. The lights were turned off, except for one at the door. I recognized the room as the hospital room I was brought in last night. I groaned.

Last night was a nightmare. It started off so well, meeting the Starkids and having a great time. Well, if you didn't count Thomas. I still didn't understand where this possessive jealousy came from all of a sudden. Everyone was jealous sometimes, even I didn't like it when other girls hang around Thomas. But I didn't act on it. Not like Thomas did.

When we had arrived at the hospital, I was conscious again. It turned out I had a minor concussion and a dislocated shoulder. They put the shoulder back in its place – something I don't want to go through ever again, so painful – and they brought me to this room to recover. They had asked if they needed to call someone, but I didn't think anyone would care. Thomas didn't apparently and I hadn't been in contact with my family for years. They didn't need to call anyone, but that meant I was stuck. Where could I go to after this? Back home, to Thomas? Did I have another choice?

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a knock on the door. A police officer came into the room. I knew what he wanted. This was something I really wanted to avoid and the very reason I didn't want to go to the hospital in the first place.

"Good morning, Miss Grant. I'm Officer Brown. This will only take a moment. You need your rest, and we already have the statements of your friends, but I would like to hear what you have to say as well." He took a seat next to my hospital bed and took his notebook. The officer was a middle-aged man but there was no grey hair to be seen. His brown eyes were really kind and they gave me the feeling I could talk to him. But I wasn't going to. Wait… what did he say about my… friends?

"I'm sorry, sir. But what friends are you talking about?" I asked him. "I didn't know anyone there."

He raised an eyebrow but gave me a friendly smile. He looked at his notebook, holding it close to his face because of the darkness in the room.

"I have a Joey Richter and Dylan Saunders. Does that ring a bell? They were with you when the paramedics arrived yesterday."

Those names did ring a bell. More than one actually. That's why those voices sounded so familiar! Oh God, this was so embarrassing.

"Yes, I do know them. I'm sorry, I forgot they were there. But they're not exactly my friends. They are members of Team Starkid, they were performing at the convention I visited with my boyfriend Thomas."

"Mr Richter stated he was your friend. You're lucky they were there, and that they called us. He said your boyfriend, Thomas, was bothering you? He was the one who attacked you, correct?" Officer Brown awaited her answer, pencil ready to start taking notes.

I took a deep breath and gathered my thoughts. What was I going to say? If I told him everything, there would be consequences for Thomas. Did I want that? Did I want to continue my relationship with Thomas? But if I denied it, I needed an explanation for my injuries. I hadn't had the time to overthink all this.

"Miss?" he tried again.

"Yes, I'm sorry," I cleared my throat. "Yes, Thomas was the one who attacked me in the alley. He was acting like that because he was jealous. I didn't do what he wanted me to do. So he lost it. He… he tried to take me with him but I resisted, so we struggled and then I kicked him. He shoved me aside, against a dumpster when I tried to run. That's when I bumped my head and hurt my shoulder. But I didn't think he really meant to hurt me…"

Officer Brown started flipping through his notebook. When he found what he was looking for, he started speaking again.

"Actually, Miss Grant, and you can tell me if Mr. Richter's statement is incorrect, but he told me that Thomas had hurt you before. During a concert?"

Oh God… He had to tell them everything. I couldn't deny it, that's basically calling Joey a liar and I didn't want that. He was so sweet and concerned for me, and now I found out he made sure I was taken care of. I needed help, and they looked after me when Thomas didn't. I could see it now that he did meant to hurt me, so I would stay with him. That's not what a good and healthy relationship should look like. You know what? I could do this. Screw Thomas. He didn't deserve me! I would find a way to collect my things and start over. Not sure how, but I would manage.

"He did… he grabbed my shoulder, the same one that got dislocated. It bruised by the time we left the convention," I sighed. There… I knew what question would follow, but I wasn't sure how to answer it.

"Do you want to file a complaint against him?" Officer Brown asked me.

I shook my head without hesitation.

"Are you sure, Miss Grant? We can't really do anything without an official complaint," he tried.

"I'm sure," I confirmed.

"Okay, as you wish. Here's my phone number and the address of the police office, in case you change your mind." He gave me a card with the address and wrote his number on the back.

When he left the room, he was replaced by a doctor.

"Good morning, Miss Grant. How are you feeling today?" she asked me.

"Fine, I guess. My head still hurts," I answered.

She came towards me and started shining a small flashlight in my eyes, and ordered me to follow her finger with my eyes.

"The headache will fade eventually. You took a big blow to the head, and that gave you the concussion you have and the headache. Do you feel nauseous? Dizzy?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine."

"Luckily your concussion is a minor one. The only thing you can do is rest and try to stay away from bright lights, because that would only make your headache worse. Your shoulder should stay in that sling for the next couple of days. I'll give you a prescription for painkillers," she explained while writing it all down. "As far as I'm concerned, you're good to go. Is there someone you can call to pick you up?"

"I… uhm…" Shit… who was I going to call? And where could I go? "I don't…"

"She's coming with me," a voice sounded from the door.

We both looked towards the door opening, where a young woman was standing.

"Julia?" There, at the door, in _my_ room stood Julia Albain. From Team Starkid.

The doctor looked towards me, verifying if I was okay with it. I nodded, since I couldn't shrug my shoulders yet.

"I'll fill in the necessary paper work so you can head out. I'll be back in a moment."

"Not to be rude or anything, but… why are you here and why am I going with you?" I asked Julia.

She came towards me and sat on the end of my bed.

"Well… I'm here partly because of Joey. He really feels bad about what happened to you. That heart of his is way too big for his own good sometimes. He's doing an interview with the rest of the gang right this moment, so it was the perfect time to visit you. And I'm also here for you," she answered.

I raised my eyebrows in question.

"I actually came to visit you to check how you were doing, so I could tell Joey and the rest of the group that you were going to be okay. He needs to stop worrying so much," she said smiling. "But then I heard you're allowed to leave the hospital and that you couldn't think of someone to come and pick you up. So… maybe you could come with me? To the hotel I mean…"

"I don't know…" I sighed. "It doesn't solve the problem really. Instead of being stuck here, I'm stuck in the hotel. Plus I don't want to be a bother, you've all done more than enough."

"Oh stop it. You're not bothering anyone. They're going to be thrilled to see you. We'll see what we'll do afterwards. We have a plane to catch tonight so we don't have much time left to argue. I'm taking you with me."

Well I couldn't argue with that. I was given the opportunity to see the Starkids again and I could thank them in person. I could probably take a cab home or something… but I wasn't sure I was ready to face Thomas again.

The doctor came back with the release forms and a plastic bag with my belongings. Apparently Thomas didn't take my bag with him when he ran away, so I had everything I needed. Including the keys to our house. Maybe I could stay in the hotel a little longer and wait until tomorrow to go home. Thomas would be at work so I could easily go there and pick up some things.

Julia helped me get out of the bed since I couldn't use my right arm yet and handed me my shoes.

"Ready to go?" Julia asked me.

"Yeah, let's go," I said, giving her a grateful smile. I had a plan now, sort of. It was going to be okay. I was going to be okay.


	7. Chapter 7

Joey's POV

The next day I was woken up by Joe, smashing a pillow on my head.

"C'mon man, Julia will skin you alive if you're not ready on time," he yelled.

I rubbed my eyes, took my phone to check the time. 8:30!

"Shit," I groaned, jumping out of bed and running into the small bathroom. I took the quickest shower in history of mankind and got dressed. Joe was laughing at the whole situation, which didn't improve the foul mood I was in.

"Hey man, I'm sorry. I let you sleep as long as possible, I even waited for you to go to breakfast," he stated. "The others are already downstairs."

Lauren… I still had to think of something to make it up to her. Joe noticed the hesitation.

"What's up?" he asked me. I shrugged.

"I snapped at Lauren yesterday when she tried to help, I didn't mean to but you know… it was a rough day and so much stuff happened. She took it harder than I expected to… Still need to think of something to make it up to her," I explained.

"That's not so hard, Joey. What is the one thing in the world that Lauren loves the most?"

"Food!" we both exclaimed.

Luckily the hotel had a gift shop where they had all kinds of stuff besides magazines and postcards. They had these tiny boxes of chocolates filled with crèmes, liquor or even more chocolate. I paid the shop a quick visit before heading out to breakfast with Joe.

When we arrived at the table where the others were sitting, Brian ticked his wrist.

"You don't have much time left, Richter!" he laughed. I shrugged my shoulders, I still had ten minutes or so, which was more than enough time to grab some stuff from the buffet and shove it in my pockets for later.

I walked towards Lauren, who was trying her best to ignore me and put the box of chocolates on her plate, giving her a kiss on her head at the same time.

"I'm sorry about last night," I whispered.

"You got me chocolates?" she squealed, clapping her hands. I smiled, she was easily pleased as long as there was food involved.

"Why does she get chocolates? Did we miss something?" Jaime asked, trying to take one out of the box. Lauren slapped her hand, but gave her a white one. She didn't like white chocolate anyway.

"I just needed to make up for something," I shrugged.

"And you're completely forgiven for biting my head off," Lauren mumbled through the chocolates in her mouth.

"Hey!" Dylan laughed. "You snap at us all the time. Where's our chocolate?"

I grabbed one out of the box, making sure I took one of the white chocolates and threw it at his head. "You're welcome," I grinned.

Julia then came in the restaurant, telling us it was time to go to the conference room for our interview.

"The interview will take about an hour, they asked to take pictures as well. I'm glad to see you all look presentable," she smiled while giving us all a once-over. "Now get your butts up and go over there!"

I quickly ran to the buffet and grabbed some croissants before heading out. When I left the restaurant, I saw Julia talking to Lauren. It wasn't strange for them to do that, so I let them be and headed towards the conference room.

Lauren ran after me and I almost couldn't avoid the door smashing into her with my hands full of croissants, but I managed it somehow.

"Thanks," she smiled. I hold the door with my foot, munching on my breakfast.

"Aren't you coming?" Lauren asked.

I looked into the hallway, searching for Julia. "Where's Julia?"

"Oh, she isn't coming," Lauren quickly answered. "She had to take care of something, couldn't wait."

Well, _that_ was strange. Julia never missed press conferences or interviews.

"Is she okay?" I asked concerned.

"Yes, Joey!" She laughed, grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the others. "Come on, let's get you and your croissants interviewed."

The interview wasn't very different from all the others I had in my Starkid-career. People really did their best to come up with clever questions, or original ones, but after a while the same questions keep coming back.

Yes, we still talked to Darren. No, I don't want to talk about my personal life. Yes, we are excited for the upcoming tour. Or we wouldn't do it in the first place, I thought sarcastically.

At one moment someone asked us how we enjoyed the convention yesterday. I stuffed my face with the last croissant to avoid having to talk, because my mind wandered towards Anna.

How was she? I didn't know and I probably never would. I knew which hospital she was in, that's if she was in fact still in the hospital. For all I knew, she was back home with that bastard. If that was the case, I truly hoped there was someone who could save her like we did yesterday. That she had someone to talk to. I knew I shouldn't get so involved in the first place, but I couldn't help it. It's who I was.

I felt a hand on my thigh, giving a reassuring squeeze. Lauren gave me a small smile, trying not to catch the attention of the others in the room.

"She's going to be fine," she whispered. I squeezed her hand in return. But I couldn't believe the words until I knew for sure.

After the interview, we shot some pictures. A couple of group photos, different pairings, the boys, the girls and so on.

When they were done and left us there in the conference room, Julia came in.

"I hope you all behaved yourselves?" she questioned. We all acted like we were insulted by her assumption and started to make some noise, jokingly shouting things like 'Of course we didn't!' and 'We would never!'.

"Hey!" Julia shouted, quickly silencing us like we were a bunch of kids. "Listen up, you guys. Before we go for lunch, I have some good and bad news to tell you."

Brian groaned. "Do we want to hear it?" Meredith slapped his arm, shushing him.

"I got a call early this morning from the travel agency. Apparently they had overbooked our flight to Chicago, which means not everyone can leave tonight." We collectively started to groan.

"I'm sorry," Julia apologized. "But some of us will have to stay longer, and take the next flight which goes Tuesday night. We are three tickets short for tonight's flight, I'll sacrifice my spot but I still need two people to do the same."

Everyone looked around them, waiting for someone to volunteer. Since we had the start of our tour later this week, we would all be traveling back to Chicago instead of spreading around the country again. I was actually looking forward spending some time with this group without having the stress of the tour weighing on us. This would cut that time with at least two or three days, and then I wasn't even counting the jetlag that would probably have its effect on us as well.

"Since nobody volunteered, Joe and Joey, you're going to have to stay," she sighed.

Joe jumped up immediately. "Why do I have to stay?"

"Because…" Julia said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Joey will probably want to stay and you guys are sharing a room. It's easier this way for the hotel."

Wait, what? Why would I want to stay? I asked Julia this, looking as perplexed as Joe was.

Julia nodded towards Lauren and Meredith, who left the room with a skip in their step. Why were they in such a good mood all of a sudden?

"That's when the good news comes in. I wasn't at the interview this morning, because I had something important to care of. Or rather, someone important." She smiled.

The door of the conference room opened again and Lauren and Meredith came back in…

I audibly gasped when I noticed a third person in between them, smiling shyly.


	8. Chapter 8

Anna's POV

When we arrived at the hotel, Julia helped me out of the cab. I know she meant well, but it got on my nerves. I wasn't completely helpless; my shoulder didn't really hurt that much and the painkillers took care of my headache. I felt relatively normal, if you didn't count the butterflies in my stomach because I was about to see the Starkids again.

I tried to adjust the sling and since I had to move my right arm a bit, a pang of pain made me slightly whimper. Okay fine, maybe I do needed some help with that. I looked at Julia and gave her an apologetic smile.

Julia laughed at me, adjusted the sling so it was comfortable and gestured to follow her inside.

"They're still busy with the interview, so let's not disturb them for now," she checked her watch. "We probably still have half an hour or so, do you want to go and have a drink?"

I nodded. We took a seat in the bar of the hotel, which was completely empty – not surprising since it was still morning – and ordered a glass of water. My stomach was too upset for anything else. When the waiter came back with our drinks, I took a small sip from my glass and started to look around. It felt weird, sitting here with Julia. This time yesterday, I was still on my way to the convention. A lot has happened the last 24 hours.

"Everything okay? You've been awfully quiet since we left the hospital," she asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders out of habit, immediately regretting it when the pain came back. Julia raised her arms to help me, but couldn't do much.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I quickly reassured her, trying to catch my breath. "I need to remember not doing that and I keep forgetting it. I'm sorry if I didn't say much, I'm just… thinking I guess." I took another sip from my glass of water.

"Have you figured out what to do yet?"

I shook my head. "Not entirely. I made up my mind about Thomas, though. Thomas and I are done. I don't want to go home, but I have to. I got to get my stuff out of there, not that that's going to be easy," I said pointing at my arm. "And then there's the problem of me having no place to go to afterwards…"

Julia clapped her hands. "Well, problems are there to be solved. I got a call this morning which actually ruined my day but as it turns out, it's rather convenient for you. So I maybe have a solution to one part of your problem…"

"Why are you doing this?" I asked her before I could help it. I didn't understand why she tried to help me. But before she answered, she jumped up and told me to drink my water.

"I just saw a photographer passing by, so I guess they're practically finished by now. We should go," she urged before she guided me towards a double door on the main floor.

"This probably sounds weird, but could you wait here for a second? I want it to be a surprise," she asked me. I nodded, though I couldn't understand why I would be considered a surprise.

"Just wait for someone to come and get you," and she disappeared into the room.

I went to sit in one of the sofas in the hallway and tried to calm myself. I saw all of them just yesterday, so why was I so nervous? Because of what happened… I thought. What would they think of me? Yesterday I was just a fan, but what was I today? A fan with issues? A burden, probably. Julia helped me, but out of pity or guilt no doubt. She probably felt like she had to help me because it happened during their concert. No, I said reprimanding myself. No, she wants to help you. And who are you to stop her? It's not the end of the world to accept some help.

I heard some commotion inside the room and a couple of minutes after that, the door opened and Meredith and Lauren came out.

"Hey, Anna!" Meredith exclaimed happily but her smile faltered a bit when she noticed the sling. "Oh my god, are you alright?"

I blushed. I couldn't help it, but I got completely flustered. "Oh, it's nothing. Really, it's only a precaution. I can't move my shoulder too much, so…"

"Don't wave it away like it's nothing, Anna," Lauren spoke. "He shouldn't have hurt you. Are you ready to go inside?"

"No," I said, but she opened the doors anyway. Meredith placed her hand on my back and gently pushed me forward.

"Don't be afraid, they're all really curious how you've been. They're going to be really happy to see you, you'll see," she whispered as we entered the conference room.

I heard someone gasp and looked towards the source of the sound. It was Joey.

"Anna!" he exclaimed happily, coming towards us.

"See?" Meredith smiled and she let go of my back. Joey was with me in a couple of seconds and the others quickly followed.

He awkwardly raised his arms to give me a hug, but thought better of it because he dropped them almost immediately.

"I was going to hug you again," he laughed. "But I'm afraid I'll hurt you." His face softened when he looked at my shoulder.

"Not to mention what happened because of his last hug," Joe commented. Lauren elbowed him in the side.

"No, it's fine," I practically whispered. I hated being the center of attention. Julia sensed it.

"Guys, give her some room, alright. She's been through a lot the last couple of hours."

We walked back towards the sofas in the room and took a seat. I sat in the largest one with Julia besides me.

"So… how did you got here?" Dylan asked me.

"I euh… Julia picked me up at the hospital," I answered. Their heads all turned towards Julia.

"I was actually only planning on giving her a visit. To see how she was, so I could tell you guys afterwards. To ease your minds a bit," she explained, looking at Joey. He smiled gratefully.

"But then it turned out she needed a ride and I offered her one. On the way back I texted Lauren and Meredith to let them know."

"So you're all clear, everything's alright?" Joey asked me. The poor guy still felt guilty.

I nodded. "Yeah, I have a mild concussion but that's no big deal. I have to take it easy the next couple of days. And my shoulder was dislocated, but they put it back in. The muscles are still sore, so that's why I need to wear this thing."

"I am so sorry," he said softly.

"Don't be, please. You couldn't have prevented this. It's not your fault! This side of him was going to surface sooner or later," I quickly reassured him. Lauren and Jaime, who were sitting on either side of him, gave him a comforting rub on the back. "In fact, I'm the one that needs to apologize. For ruining your evening. And I need to thank you. All of you. If you guys weren't there…" I couldn't finish the sentence because of the lump in my throat. I didn't know what could've happened; Thomas could have left me there or maybe worse. I'll never know.

"What are you going to do now?" Clark asked.

I almost shrugged my shoulders again. Stupid habit of mine, I really got to pay attention to that.

"Thomas and I are through, there's no question about that. I can't believe I tried to defend him at first. But my eyes are opened now. So I have to go home and pick up my stuff because the house is his. I don't know how I'm going to do that or where I'm going to live. Heck, I don't even know what I'm going to do today, to be honest," I explained.

Julia patted my knee. "That's where we come in," she smiled. I saw the others shooting questioning looks towards one another. This was new to them as well.

My eyes widened. "Oh no," I said quickly. "No, I can't ask you that. You've already done more than enough. Really, I will think of something."

"Anna, it's not that big of a deal. Most of us are leaving tonight, but Joe, Joey and myself are staying. We'll go with you tomorrow and help you move out. You can stay here in the hotel and share my room. Now, if you can excuse me, I have a phone call to make." She said and walked out of the room.

This was really overwhelming. The Starkids all looked at me, waiting for me to say something.

"I uhm… I could try and get back in contact with my family. See if I can go back home. I lost contact with them because of Thomas. Gosh… come to think of it, I lost a lot of things because of him…"

"Why don't you try and call them right after lunch?" Meredith suggested.

"Yes, let's go get lunch! I'm starving," Lauren sighed.

"Lauren, you're always starving," Brian commented.

"True!" she laughed.

Julia came back in the room, and we told her we're going to get lunch.

Meredith's POV

Julia came back and we all decided to get outside and grab some lunch.

But I wanted to ask her something first. So I pulled her arm and asked if I could talk to her for a moment. The others and Anna went ahead, she had regained some color in her face. I was glad she was getting more comfortable around us.

"Hey Jules, can I ask you something?" I asked Julia. She nodded.

"Sure, what's up?"

"The travel agency didn't call this morning, did they?"

Julia sighed, checked if the others couldn't hear us and gave me a small smile. I knew it!

"No… I just called them actually, to rebook the tickets to the next flight. It was a risk, but they could do it. We need to help her, Mere."

"Not that I don't want to help, but why is this so important?"

"I have a friend who had to go through the exact same thing. We didn't know, she could hide it extremely well. Then one day he had lost it just like Thomas had, but it was much worse than what happened to Anna. I've never forgiven myself that I didn't notice. So this time, I want to make a difference…"

I gave her a hug. "I'm so sorry Julia. I'm sure Joe and Joey will help as much as they can."

"Just don't tell anyone okay?"

"Don't worry, I won't," I promised.


End file.
